CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION the First Chapter Belongs to Introduction
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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The first chapter belongs to introduction chapter. It consists of background of research, statement of problem, purpose and significance of research, and organization of writing. 1.1 Background of Research Life full of sign. It appears in every corner of human life. Sign is generic concept, of which there are a very large number of species, multiplying from trichotomous base of icon, index and symbol.1 While Cassirer says in Sebeok that a sign is a part of physical world, a symbol is a part of the human world of meaning. As it will be seen that sign is something which stands to somebody. Pierce add, that somebody whom he refers it surely the human themselves. In short, the ‘somebody’ is also a sign or a text.2 Inevitably that symbol is a part of sign. People seem a building with the crucifix which means Christian, or people found the Red Cross which means hospital or Red Cross Organization. The symbol sends a message to people to interpret what meaning in it. Symbol is something that represents the idea, then it has purpose to communicate meaning. In line with Hawthorn, symbol is not limited to literature and art. They are central to all known human cultures. 1 Thomas. A. Sebeok. Signs: An Introduction to Semiotics. 2nd ed., (Canada, 2001). p. 33 2 Ibid. p. 36 1 2 Basically, symbol is simple sign that everybody faces in everyday life. The symbol established by social convention. Traffic light such as red light, green light, yellow light has the same meaning in every country. It happens because social convention. In line with Pierce, in a symbol, the relation between the signifying item and what it signifies is not a natural one, but entirely a matter of social convention.3 To recognize symbol in everyday life is easy than to understand what symbol made for. People faces many symbol everyday in the society but people does not recognized and even if they recognized it they did not know the exact meaning of the symbol itself. Take a simple example, people known the snake enlaces the torch as the symbol of pharmacy but people do not understand why snake used as pharmacy symbol. It shows us that symbol has two directions. The first symbol will represent something and the second that symbol will interpret something. According to Pierce in Sebeok (2001)4, a symbol is a sign that stands for it referent in an arbitrary, conventional way. Thus, the symbol comes from social convention. Despite the symbol born from social convention, it is does not mentioned that symbol in literature made of social convention. The author’s idea can form in the symbol which always says many times in author’s work. In Dracula, Stoker creates the symbol by himself. He used Count Dracula to represent something in Victorian age. While, in the movie Dracula Untold we 3 M.H. Abrams. A Glossary of Literary Terms. 7th ed., (USA, 1999). p. 276. 4 Thomas. A. Sebeok. Signs: An Introduction to Semiotics. 2nd ed., (Canada, 2001). p. 11. 3 can interpret the symbol widely. That is why, the researcher interested to compare the transformation of character symbols in two research objects, Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula (1897) and the movie Dracula Untold (2014). The characters in literary works always interpreted as a society which lived in that age. Characters are made it can be seen as an image or a portrait of social reality when the novel written. Beyond our interpretation, Lukacs even insists that the form of literary works is a concrete ideology than just the matter of literary works which abstractly.5 He returns to the old realist view that novel reflect reality, not by rendering its mere surface appearance, but by giving us ‘a truer, more complete, more vivid and more dynamic reflection of reality’.6 It indicates that novel as a form of literary works is a form of ideology manifested in intrinsic element, one of the elements is character. Thus, characters as element of literary works include concrete ideology which depict in the dialect, idea, characteristics, behaviour, habit and culture. Albeit the novel, Dracula looks like the fiction story but the researcher views it as an idea of Victorian society. However, in lines with Lukacs who says that art of literature is artistic and imaginative force which cannot separate from social life.7 Meanwhile, in Goldmann sight, literature related genetically with ideas, values and social expectation.8 5 Ahyar Anwar. Teori Sosial Sastra. (Yogyakarta, 2010). p. 55. 6 Raman Selden, Peter Widdowson & Peter Brooker. A Reader’s Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory. (Great Britain, 2005). p. 86. 7 Ibe Karyanto. Realisme Sosialis. (Jakarta, 1997). p. 61. 8 Ahyar Anwar. Teori Sosial Sastra. (Yogyakarta, 2010). p. 103. 4 While the movie, Dracula Untold directed by Gary Shore, the character elements in the movie are complex. Movie as one of literary works serves the main character as hero and it included in the movie, Dracula Untold. Prince Vlad III “Dracula” the Impaler designed differently from the history. There is deflection about the characters, such as Sultan Mehmed II who was killed by Vlad III in the movie. Literature contains the elements of life. One of the elements is social critiques that can be form in many shapes. It happens because literature is created from author worldview and the author as the subject has sense and consciousness of social situation. The research which focus on symbol cannot separated from social reality. Symbol appears in society to depict social life therefore this research will not ignores social reality situation in Victorian Age based on the novel, Dracula, and social reality situation in 15th century and modern society based on the movie, Dracula Untold, especially which is represented by the characters. As canon literature which popular in the late of Victorian there are many research and criticism to Dracula’s novel. Before this research started, others academic has published their research, such as Husna (2008) and Szanter (2015). Husna (2008) arranges her thesis with focuses on the abnormality of Dracula’s character. Her research explores Dracula’s character where Draculas as the main character in the story clearly has abnormal life. In her research the main focus is describing the abnormal behaviour of Dracula with using psychoanalytic theory 5 because she assumes it can be used to analyze character in a novel, or to analyze the reader in the light of his or her responses. While, Szanter in her research analyzes the porphyria anxiety and bloodlust in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Her research assumes that the blood is the life and has correlated with social situation in Victorian society. She take cultural attachment to Jack the Ripper where he was popular criminal in the late of Victorian. In this case, she endeavour to sync the idea in novel was born from the society. The analysis makes argument about blood transfusion in novel as the disease. It can be thought as cruelty, righteousness even lust of human. The blood is said cruelty because Count Dracula using blood as his desire to gain his glory invades England. The blood is said righteousness, it can be thought that blood gives and makes people alive and survive. It can be seen when Arthur and his friends gives their blood to save Lucy from the death, then it can be said righteousness. From the previous studies above, the researcher will endeavour not only to dig up the author notion (Stoker) but also describes the differences of symbols transformation in novel and movie which rise up Dracula as the main character. The researcher will focusing analyze the symbol transformation in Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, and the movie, Dracula Untold, also will describing the social reality represented by the characters. 6 1.2 Statements of Problems The use of symbol, criticism and social reality are interesting topic to analyze in Dracula and Dracula Untold. Every symbol in literary works has different interpretation from one head to another. Criticism and social reality which appears in novel depicts the Victorian society, while in movie portrays the 15th century and modern society. It can look in characters on the novel and the movie that social reality is depicted in characters. At the basics before, the researcher endeavour attempts to observe what the researcher questionable. For the purpose of the research, the researcher provided operational research questions as follows: 1. How are transformation of character symbols in Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, and the movie Dracula: Untold? 2. How social reality represented by the characters in Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, and the movie Dracula: Untold? 1.3 Research Objectives Based on the statements of problem above, the objectives of the study can be shown in the following sentences: 1. To explain the process of symbol transformation in literary works. 2. To prove social reality in literary works are depicted by the characters. 7 1.4 Research Significances Hopefully, this study can help the reader for studying literature especially about the symbol and social reality which appears in literary works. The researcher hopes the reader can gain more understanding about the symbol and social reality take a role in literary works. Besides, this study can be used as an alternative reference for students who are interested to dig up more information and understanding about the symbol and social reality in literary works. Furthermore, this research has significance in two positions. The first, academically this research as a source to understand the use of symbol in literature and how the author criticizes social reality by literature.